COMBUSTIBLE DUST COLLECTION & VACUUMS
3B Air Systems can help you comply with combustible dust safety standards to ensure the wellbeing of your personnel and facilities. We understand the risks associated with dust, and our experienced team of professionals work with trusted vendors to provide the safest and most efficient dust collection systems possible.
To protect facilities against fires and explosion risks, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requires dust collectors and vacuum systems to comply with its standards and codes for combustible dust collection. Although these standards are not law, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and many insurance companies aggressively enforce them. It’s not something to take lightly.
How We Help With Combustible Dust Collection
Here at 3B Air Systems, we will review your application and make sure that your dust collection solution will comply with NFPA standards and OSHA requirements. Not only can we design and engineer a compliant system for you, but we will source the equipment, install everything for you, and test the final system to help your facility operate safely and responsibly.
- OSHA mandates that if your dust has a Kst value greater than 0, then your dust is combustible. According to the NFPA 652 standard, you must then perform a Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA) to determine the potential combustion risks for dust produced or handled in your facility.
- Have a reputable 3rd party test your dust to determine a Kst value. Many testing agencies will have a simple, low cost option to determine if the dust is combustible (Yes or No) – if test result is yes, you can then contract with them to provide a more in depth testing regimen to determine the actual values for Kst, PMax, MEC, MIE, etc.*
- Consult with a reputable industrial air filtration and combustible dust collection specialist like 3B Air Systems to determine the best course of action to mitigate your combustible dust exposure.
So how do you know if your dust is combustible and what should you do about it?
Key Combustible Dust Terms
- Kst – the dust deflagration index, which measures the relative explosion severity compared to other dusts. The larger the value for Kst, the more severe the explosion.
- MEC – the minimum explosible concentration, which measures the minimum amount of dust dispersed in air required to spread an explosion.
- MIE – the minimum ignition energy, which predicts the ease and likelihood of ignition of a dispersed dust cloud in or around a combustible dust collection system.
- PMax – maximum achievable pressure generated during a dust explosion event.
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